Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There is obviously no question that prevention is always better than treatment. It is generally accepted that governments and departments of health all across the nation spend a lot more money dealing with the impacts of bad eating behaviour or all kinds of other things that cost money later on.
But realistically speaking, we don’t have enough resources to take all preventive measures that we would like. There is focus in our public health strategy and public health work to encourage healthier habits in people for their health, and the Drop the Pop initiative, for example, is one of those cases.
I do agree with the Member. In any kind of cost-benefit analysis, it is better to prevent this from happening or to treat the children as much as possible. But it is also a fact that dental service is not a government-insured service in Canada.